The hit-and-run driver who cops say mowed down and dragged a pregnant girl heading residence from a Beyoncé live performance was busted on homicide prices, cops mentioned Wednesday — because the sufferer’s grieving husband slammed the motorist as a “coward” and a “monster.”
Chaquasia Pigford, 28, faces a laundry listing of prices — together with second-degree homicide, manslaughter, reckless driving, driving with out a license, and leaving the scene of a lethal accident — for allegedly ramming into 32-year-old Tiffany Cifuni the evening of Might 24 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, cops mentioned.
Pigford was ordered held with out bail by Choose Dena E. Douglas throughout her Wednesday afternoon arraignment, attended by about 10 kinfolk of the slain mom-to-be, together with her husband, James Cifuni.
“She’s a coward,” the tearful husband could possibly be heard saying in the course of the proceedings. “She’s a monster.”
Tiffany’s father-in-law, Nick Cifuni, a non-public follow lawyer who beforehand labored for the NYPD, informed reporters the household is “completely satisfied right this moment occurred.”
“We’ve got been reeling from the day [Tiffany] was killed,” he mentioned. “We won’t relaxation till it’s over and we get justice for Tiffany.
“I don’t wish to say something to disrupt the proof of the case.”
Cifuni — who prosecutors say was 12 weeks pregnant — was on her manner residence from the Beyoncé live performance at MetLife Stadium the evening she was killed, her heartbroken in-laws informed WABC on the time of the tragedy.
Whereas en route, Cifuni, who was driving a 2021 Toyota 4Runner, was rear-ended by Pigford, who was driving a stolen 2016 Chevy Trax on Lewis Avenue, cops and prosecutors mentioned.
Cifuni adopted Pigford for about two blocks earlier than the Chevy driver lastly stopped at Van Buren Road and Marcus Garvey Boulevard, Assistant District Lawyer Tara Kelly mentioned.
Cifuni obtained out of her automobile and walked as much as Pigford’s trip — however Pigford “refused to roll down her window or converse with Tiffany,” Kelly mentioned.
“At that time, the defendant first evenly pressed the fuel, inflicting the car to briefly contact Mrs. Cifuni,” Kelly recounted. “Tiffany jumped backwards and positioned her arms on the hood.”
“When a passerby was strolling down the road, Tiffany yelled, asking him to take a photograph of the defendant’s license plate,” she added. “At that second, the defendant floored the fuel, immediately putting Tiffany, inflicting her physique to turn out to be lodged beneath the car.”
Pigford then made an unlawful proper flip into oncoming visitors on Marcus Garvey Boulevard, Kelly mentioned.
It wasn’t till Pigford drove over a manhole that Cifuni’s physique was dislodged, in response to the prosecutor.
However the driver’s rampage wasn’t executed — police mentioned the Chevy struck a parked Volkswagen SUV whereas attempting to get away, after which slammed right into a 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee with a 38-year-old girl behind the wheel.
“The one cause the defendant stopped driving was as a result of each of her entrance tires blew out,” Kelly mentioned. “She then deserted the stolen automobile and fled the scene on foot.”
The crazed driver then obtained out and fled on foot, abandoning the Chevy, which had short-term plates.
Pigford fled to South Carolina, the place she has kinfolk, and was nabbed when she returned to Brooklyn late Tuesday, in response to Kelly.
Cifuni’s in-laws beforehand informed WABC that simply two weeks earlier than her tragic dying, Cifuni had shared the information that she and James, who lived on Lengthy Island, have been anticipating their first baby.
Earlier than the arraignment, Pigford – who lives lower than a mile from the scene – denied any accountability for the crash as detectives led her out of the 81st Precinct stationhouse.
“It wasn’t me, it was the one who owns the automobile,” she informed reporters.
Her legal professional, John Signoriello, echoed his shopper’s denial in court docket and tried to press for $10,000 bail as a result of his shopper has robust group ties, lives along with her mom and works as a house well being aide.
Pigford, who wore glasses, a navy blue hoodie and black leggings, saved her hood pulled over her head in the course of the proceedings.
Her subsequent court docket look is scheduled for July 30.
Further reporting by Larry Celona
